A message from our Consultants
Overall 2013 has been another exciting year in the
Marketing industry with a further rise in brand and
employer confidence. Whilst we have continued to
see a steady number of departmental restructures as
businesses respond to changing marketing strategies,
many of our clients and candidates have reported
permanent headcount increases within their teams
and the demand for marketing talent remains strong
across most industries.
On the consumer side Travel, Retail and Consumer
Goods have all seen increased job flow, with the return
in demand for middle management. The B2B sectors
have seen the biggest step change towards digital
as they embrace new and emerging technologies in
addition to their more traditional channels.
Digital marketers will remain highly sought after in
2014, particularly those with mobile expertise, and
personalisation remains a key challenge for 2014
as consumers and businesses alike expect tailored
experiences across multiple channels so we anticipate
an increased need for experience here too.

In 2013, the economic climate in the North continued
to be challenging for contract and interim marketing
and communications professionals but the level
of optimism as we head into a new year has most
certainly increased. There were positive signs of
recovery in certain sectors including most notably a
positive upturn in demand for temporary staff across
the financial services and utility sectors across all
skills in the marketing mix.
As Blue Skies launched its specialist temporary and
interim marketing division this year alongside its well
established freelance creative team, we are now better
able to provide an insight into the market as we head
into 2014. Overall we have seen a healthy increase in
the demand for interim and contract skills at all levels
which has been up year-on-year, as budgets were set
aside to enable recruitment on a project-byproject basis.
This is somewhat fuelled by businesses continuing
to try and balance cautiousness about permanent
headcount plans and avoiding being left behind by
advances in social media and mobile marketing. More
and more businesses now recognise that social media
and digital marketing via tablets and smart phones is

With more than a third of marketers confident of a
payrise in 2014, salaries are expected to continue to
increase but with many employees working longer
hours than ever, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not simply an increased salary
that candidates are chasing, career moves are being
driven by the promise of greater career progression
and greater overall job satisfaction. At Blue Skies, our
consultants strive to ensure that we promote your
business and not just your vacancy to help you attract
and secure the very best candidates for each and
every role.
Blue Skies enter 2014 with confidence that marketing
recruitment will continue to grow over the next twelve
months. However, we are recommending clients monitor
salary levels carefully and to take a candidate-bycandidate approach when calculating what packages
to offer as increased competition for the best marketing
talent is certainly back on the agenda.
Holly Wilkinson - Associate Director
Clientside

a cost-effective and engaging way to gain and retain
customers and as a result, there has been a continued
appetite for digital and e-commerce professionals.
Alongside this, as the continued pressures being felt by
existing staff members has continued, many clients are
undertaking a review of their internal communication
strategy to motivate and engage their teams.
As we move through 2014, we need to be conscious
that candidates will continue to think long and hard
before they commit to a career move. Therefore, to
secure the best talent, organisations across all sectors
will need to demonstrate the right engagement strategy
as well as committed headcount plans and robust,
innovative and engaging recruitment strategies. In
the meantime as the permanent recruitment market
certainly shows signs of recovery, the contract and
interim market will continue to act effectively at
plugging the skill gap and to undertake those proactive
project based assignments.
We look forward to 2014 with gusto as our clients firmly
put recruitment back on the list of key priorities for the
New Year and start to review existing skills and invest in
key hires with their marketing teams!
Chris Sims and Rosemary James
Clientside Marketing Temp Consultants